One time at one of our new years celebration gatherings for karate, we were breaking boards like usual.
One girl punched one
It split not in half
but into three pieces
The guy was holding one third of the board in each hand
and the last third flew and hit a wall
do you have any idea how ******* hard you have to hit the board to make that **** happen

It's strange though, a flying front kick SHOULDN'T hit that hard, but it does
Technically you should be able to put more force via standing front kick because you're pushing off the ground, for instance if you kick a door in, you never jump or you'll just bounce right off the door because nothing is keeping you constantly pushing forward (the ground)
Not sure if i explained it properly, but to my knowledge (and ability) the hardest hitting kick (that I can do) is the muoy thai tornado kick

You'd be amazed.
>learning TKD from a legitimate Korean Master for four years then having to switch to a Mcdojo with a middle aged white guy for a teacher when we moved
>mfw all these red belts and higher unable to break a half inch board with multiple strikes
>mfw I was breaking inch thick boards at green belt with a single kick or punch
I stayed for like 2 months then quit, so much ******** at that dojo.
>lets NOT wear our protective gear for full contact sparring
>lets teach students to stop after each strike
>lets give them a dozen chances to break boards for testing so they never learn proper form
>lets do kata's for 95% of the class instead of focusing on actual techniques LIKE HOW TO KICK WITH FORCE

We have 3 classes a week
Tuesdays are mostly sparring and doing basics
Thursdays are almost all kata
Saturdays are just hours of either cardio workouts/katas/sparring because we're preparing for the tournament in Osaka in July
I don't mind doing Kata though, it can still teach you a lot
but i agree you have to leave time to learn actual techniques

Well, probably one of the reasons it isn't actually all that hard is because most karate masters (like at your second dojo, ones that are more commercial) use their fingers to bend the board somewhat so that the board will beak easier. If they don't do that at all, then it is a lot easier to break it in 3. I've seen quite a few people do it at my dojo, and I've even done it myself

you are right it does depend on form, but other than that it depends on the hardening of the body. that essentially means it depends on how much youve conditioned your body. and even then they sometimes buy boards that are made to break. you can even see a person who takes pride in breaking concrete blocks say "i bought the wrong kind of block" on ridiculousness. conditioning the body isnt that hard, unless youre going for qigong. then youre just a crazy ************